USW Local 2-232

formerly PACE 7-232

Representing  employees at Briggs & Stratton Corp. and Strattec Security Corp. in Milwaukee, WI

Season's Greetings 

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Membership Meeting 

Sunday January 18, 2009

Frank Monreal's El Matador

9155 W. Bluemound Rd. Milwaukee 

9:30a.m.

Nomination and Election will take place for Recording Secretary to fill the vacancy of Karen Clark, who is retiring January 1, 2009

Nominations will take place for the following positions:

Trustee at Large, Strattec Grievance Rep, Briggs Grievance Rep, 2 Briggs Bargaining Committee Members

   Members are urged to Attend this Meeting.

Al Gore Champions Working Families in First Presidential Debate

          With a focus on improving education, Social Security, working family tax cuts and access to prescription drugs, during the Oct. 3 presidential debate, Vice President Al Gore showed that he is the champion for working families in this election.

          "We have achieved extraordinary prosperity. Will we use our prosperity to enrich not just the few, but all our families?" Gore asked during the first of three debates, this one held at the University of Massachusetts in Boston.

          In contrast, Republican contender Gov. George W. Bush talked about his plans to privatize Social Security, voucherize public schools and squander the federal budget surplus on a massive tax cut for the wealthy.

          "Voters saw a lot of differences on key working family issues—Medicare prescription drugs, education, who gets the benefits of tax cuts—but nothing was more revealing than the discussion over Social Security," said AFL-CIO President John Sweeney.

          To protect and strengthen the country's most important family protection program, Gore said he will use the surplus to extend the life of Social Security and create new "plus" accounts to help working families save for retirement, higher education and first homes.

          "I am opposed to a plan that diverts one out of every six dollars from the Social Security trust fund to the stock market," he said. "My plan is Social Security plus; the governor's plan is Social Security minus."

          In contrast, Governor Bush said that he would use $1 trillion of the projected budget surplus to finance his privatization scheme.

          Gore pledged to ensure that seniors don't have to choose between putting food on the table and the medications they need to preserve their health, so he proposed a strong voluntary prescription drug benefit. Unlike Bush's proposal, the vice president's plan would not leave millions of seniors behind.

          Because education and training are the bedrock of economic security for working families, Gore said he would provide funds to hire thousands of new teachers and repair crumbling schools. "We need to make education the No. 1 priority and treat teachers like the professionals they are," he said. Bush, in contrast, wants to siphon money away from public schools with a voucher plan that would mainly benefit families who can afford to send their children to private schools.

          Union members welcomed Gore's message. "Gore is going to have a Social Security lockbox and protect the middle class," said John Tompson, a member of Painters and Allied Trade District Council 3, of Kansas City, Mo. Tompson observed that Bush's anti-working-family policies would depress wages, endanger economic prosperity and undermine Bush's own economic proposals.

          Reminding viewers of his positions on working family issues, Gore said, "The people I have fought for have been middle-class families. I cast my lot with the people, even when that means you have to stand up to some powerful interests."